Summer
by pinkdigi
Summary: Nothing lasts forever, right? [SS oneshot. Companion piece to Cohen.]


**Disclaimer: I don't own the OC, so don't sue me. Actually, you can't sue me. You'd be suing my parents. And you don't want to do that, do you?**

**Thanks so much for all the feedback for my 'Cohen' fic. This is the companion to it, in Seth's POV. **

**Summer  
**……………………………………………………………

He should have known.

When things seem too good to be true, they usually are. His relationship with Summer was no exception to this rule. Every time things were going good, he found a way to fuck it up.

Maybe it had never happened. Maybe he just imagined the whole thing. Maybe the last two years and change were all just a dream. A really, really long dream. Sometimes, Seth told himself that. He repeated it over and over in his mind, until he really started to believe it. It was easier to imagine that he was still morbidly unpopular, that Ryan never came to Newport. It was easier when he believed that Marissa was still dating Luke and that Summer was still oblivious to the fact that Seth Cohen even existed.

It was easier to think that he never had Summer to begin with, than to know that he had her and lost her.

It was easier, maybe, but he decided he didn't want to believe it. Summer loving him was the one thing in his life that he would never forget. It didn't matter if he lived to be one hundred and fifty years old, or if he died tomorrow. It didn't matter if he traveled to each continent and met every person in the world, or if he never left Newport and didn't meet another person in his lifetime. No matter what, his mind would always hold Summer a step above the rest.

His mind would remember how Summer felt, how Summer tasted, how Summer playfully hit his arm when she laughed, how Summer called him 'Cohen' and hardly ever 'Seth'. Form her wavy brown hair to her size seven feet, he would _always _remember Summer. The rest, he could forget. He didn't care about them, not like he cared about her.

Sometimes, when he first woke up in the morning, it wouldn't hit him right away. He would lay there for a few minutes, and everything that had happened in the past two years really _did _seem like a dream. Then he would feel numbness in his right arm, turn, and find Summer asleep on it. Everything that had been written off as 'a dream' would come rushing back, in the form of reality. Those were the best mornings of all.

He didn't have mornings like those anymore.

Lately, he awoke to a cold and empty bed. His pillow wouldn't smell like Summer, his blankets wouldn't be pulled completely off him and be wrapped around her tiny body. His pillow smelt like his own shampoo, his blankets would actually cover him. He had never wanted to die more than he did in the morning, when he awoke to a life without Summer Roberts.

He had lived without Summer for seventeen years, but it was different now. Before, he had never known an alternative. To him, he would always be geeky Seth Cohen, and she would always be out of his reach. In his wildest of fantasies, she actually went so far as to learn his name.

Never did he imagine that she would also know his favourite band, favourite food, favourite video game, and everything else he loved. Never did he imagine she would spend more time in his house than she did in her own. Never did he imagine she would ever return even a smidgen of the feelings he felt for her.

But she did.

That was probably the most unbelievable part of the whole situation. Ever since Seth could remember, he had been in love with Summer Roberts. And not just little kid love, either. He _really _loved her. He loved her the same way Romeo loved Juliet. Didn't that one end in tragedy, too?

Whatever. He would live with whatever tragedy would befall him, because he deserved it. He deserved it for the way he hurt Summer, for the way he made her, the only girl he had ever loved, cry. Besides, having her return his feelings for even a second was worth an entire lifetime of torture and agony.

How had it come to this? He still didn't know. Did he change? He must have. There was no way that the same comic book reading, video game playing, unpopular "emo geek" had snagged the queen of Harbor High. But he didn't change. He was the same sarcastic loser that he had always been, and she fell for him. It was truly an act of God.

Nobody ever paid attention to him. Nobody even talked to him; unless you counted the times they made fun of him to look cool in front of their friends. Kids were cruel; he knew that all too well. Everyone said that the teenagers in Newport were superficial, but the adolescents in Newport Beach were probably worse.

Even when he was just a little kid, around seven or eight, he had no friends. He had never been outgoing or confident, or even particularly funny or good at sports. If you weren't an athlete, or a class-clown, if you weren't cute, didn't have the best lunches, didn't hold the title for eating the most bugs, or have any other defining quality, you didn't really matter. Therefore, Seth didn't really matter. Kids thought he was weird, and tended to avoid him.

Maybe he _had_ been a weird kid, but as the years progressed, he actually became pretty cool. It was just that he had been an outcast for so long, that nobody felt like helping him make the transition. He turned into a pretty funny guy (perhaps a little _too_ sarcastic at times, but funny nonetheless) and was pretty sure he could eat the most bugs, if he had the right incentive (Summer, perhaps?).

But Summer never noticed him. In fact, she tended to look right through him when they passed each other in the hallway. He had never talked to her, was never able to work up the courage to. Maybe it was because she was never alone. If she were alone, he could say hello with only mild embarrassment, perhaps she would even say hello back, or smile, or acknowledge his existence in the slightest of ways. But since she was always surrounded by Marissa, Luke, Holly, and the rest of her fan club, he was pretty sure he would die of humiliation before she even realized someone was talking to her.

He didn't know what had drawn him to her in the first place, but it didn't really matter anymore, did it? Maybe it was the sensitive side of Summer, the side that came out when she fed the skinny squirrel during lunchtime in the third grade. He was fairly certain she didn't show that side very often around her friends. Maybe it was when she read her sixth-grade poem to the class. Her hand shook, like she actually cared what the other kids thought. That blew his mind. Even back then, it was apparent that Summer would be the prettiest, most popular girl that Newport had ever seen. Everyone would like her, or at least pretend to. He was sure she knew this, even though they were only twelve at the time. And even knowing that, she was still nervous.

Like a fucking poem about wanting to be a mermaid would make Summer drop down in the ranks and force her to slum it with the likes of Cohen.

Maybe it was her innocence. He knew that deep down, she was a good person. She was just swept up into the whole 'Newport Superficiality' campaign and never looked back. He always wondered what would happen if he could only get her to look back. He used to imagine that underneath the fake smile and the makeup and the designer clothes and the pair of shoes that probably cost more than his entire outfit, she was unhappy. He used to imagine that she needed someone to swoop in and save her from herself. Well, if she was going to be Lois Lane, you bet your ass he was going to be Superman. He told himself that when the day came, _he _would be the one to save her. Not an asshole water polo player, not her daddy with his endless supply of money. Seth Cohen, the king of all things nerdy and lame, would save the fair maiden from her impending doom.

As they got older, that dream got further and further from his mind. He accepted that it would never happen, that Summer was happy and would never need Seth for anything. In a strange way, he was fine with that. As long as she was really happy, he didn't care if she never spoke to him, never learned his name. She was happy, and that was all he wanted.

That's how much he loved her. That how much he _still_ loves her.

When the day came that she actually did talk to him, when she actually _did _learn his name, he was a little disappointed. She used him. She used him at Casino Night, because she thought he was good luck. She used him at his grandpa's party, so she could meet single guys with huge bank accounts.

Then there was the disaster that was Tijuana. All she did on the way there was complain about the speed he was driving, and the heat, and the music, and the snacks, and everything else. They argued like cats and dogs, with Ryan and Marissa rolling their eyes and sighing dramatically in the background. It was pretty hot, of course, but annoying nonetheless.

She kind of took him for granted, too. She figured he'd always be there when she needed him, and totally didn't appreciate him. When Marissa overdosed in TJ, he was the one who had to comfort her. It was _his _shoulder she was crying on in that gross, disease-ridden alley. And that night, when they air-lifted Marissa back to Newport, she didn't have any apprehensions of being with Seth Cohen.

Then, they went back to school and Summer totally ignored him. Apparently, she became very aware of the fact that he was Seth Cohen, and therefore could not be seen with him. Looks like she still cared what others thought, despite everything.

When Anna came to town, Summer got jealous. She didn't want him, but she didn't want anyone else to want him, either. How fucked up was that?

It seemed like the more time he spent with her, the more he was able to point out her flaws. Loving her from afar gave him certain advantages. When he didn't know what she was really like, he could believe that she was a good person and that, deep down, she was kind of like him. He could believe whatever he wanted about her, because there was no real proof to make him think otherwise.

The Summer he imagined—_hoped—_she would be, definitely wasn't the same girl he found out she really was. The perfect image of her that he had established in his mind was being knocked down. In its place, Seth now had the real her. The bossy, aggressive, snobby, superficial, whiny, temperamental Summer Roberts.

He had never loved her more than he did when he realized that.

The scariest thing about Summer wasn't that she could kick his ass, if she wanted to (though that was pretty scary). The scariest thing was how..._perfect _she was. All the time. Seth is anything but perfect, obviously. And when you make the shocking revelation that the girl you've loved since you were ten isn't perfect either, it kind of makes talking to her seem a little easier.

It took a while, but finally, she got over caring about what others thought. She was with him, and she didn't care who knew it.

He was the biggest geek that Newport had ever seen, and she was his girlfriend.

Girlfriends to guys like Seth are supposed to be equally dorky and _mildly_ attractive at best. Seth Cohen's girlfriend was anything but a dork. She was popular, funny, and the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on, including celebrities he had seen on TV or in one of Summer's fashion magazines.

He finally got the girl, the one he had dreamt about for seven and a half years. The one he had practically stalked, but not in a creepy way. _Was_ there even a non-creepy way?

He loved her so much, and that's why he hated himself.

He spent so long trying to make her his. He spent every waking second trying to figure out a way to be with her. He tried to make her jealous with Anna, he tried to get over her and date Anna. No matter what, he couldn't get her out of his head. He tried to swallow his feelings, he tried to deny them, but he couldn't.

He had said it before, and he would say it again.

She was undeniable.

So why in the world did he hurt her so much? He loved her more than he thought possible; he had waited his whole life to be with her. Just when she came around, just when she finally conceded to her feelings and was trulyhis, he pushed her away.

Maybe she was right; maybe he only wanted a chase after all. He didn't believe it, but maybe he was just in denial. He wasn't like Summer, he could be denied. Lord knows she denied him for quite a while when they were first dating. Hell, if his mother didn't love him so much, she'd probably deny him, too.

Who wanted Seth Cohen as their boyfriend, or even their friend, for that matter?

Evidently, no one. That was why he spent the majority of his life playing with Captain Oats and his video games, instead of the other kids. That was why he read comic books, instead of Sports Illustrated. That was why he listened to his "emo" music instead of the music the other kids listened to. Because nobody cared, nobody was there to tell him that it wasn't cool or accepted. Seth Cohen wasn't cool, Seth Cohen wasn't accepted.

What the hell was emo anyway? He didn't know what it meant, but he had heard it all his life. He had been linked to it all his life. He had been written off as just another queer, just another emo geek.

Who started those names, anyway? It was probably Luke and the other water polo bastards. It would be fitting. They had nothing better to do than shave their chests and belittle everyone else.

It's too bad he was actually pretty good friends with Luke now. It sure was easy to hate the guy. Until about a year and a half ago, Luke represented everything he hated in the world. He was popular, tanned, athletic, and dating Marissa. The guy had everything. He even had chicks on the side. Not that Seth admired that, or anything. But still, it didn't hurt. Especially to a guy who was unpopular, pale, shitty at sports and even shittier with girls. Luke Ward, and the rest of his friends, made Seth sick. They were like a walking Abercrombie ad. They made his already dismal life even worse.

He hated Newport Beach until Ryan came along. When Ryan came from Chino, he changed everything. It must have been magic, because there was no way Seth Cohen could have friends without the help of a well-induced spell or two.

It was like someone finally decided to give the poor guy a break. Yeah, Jesus and Moses were on their game the night Ryan got busted for stealing that car. If that didn't reinstate his faith in all things Chrismukkah, what would?

Ryan wasn't just the brother he never had; Ryan was the friend he never had. No offense to Captain Oats or anything, but he couldn't really carry a conversation. Then again, neither could Ryan. But when Seth got into his self-centered mood and only wanted to talk about himself (which was rather often), Ryan would at least nod along and pretend he was listening. Sometimes, though it was mostly for his own personal amusement, he actually did listen to Seth's ramblings. And it was much easier to play video games against someone with opposable thumbs.

Finally, he had someone to stick up for him. When Luke and his asshole friends ambushed him on the beach, or in the halls, or at a party, Ryan was there. He made Seth feel like he actually mattered. Someone, other than his mother, cared whether he was happy or not. Ryan gave him confidence, if only a little bit. He still didn't have many friends, but the few that he had were a direct result of Ryan coming to Newport. He was no longer outnumbered by adults in his house. He no longer had to play against the computer on his video games. He even got Ryan reading the occasional comic book or two.

Ryan did a lot for him, but the best thing he had given Seth was Summer. It was pretty obvious that she only knew him because she was originally interested in Ryan. Then again, what girl drawn to bad boys wasn't interested in the guy who inspired Kid Chino?

Ryan just naturally attracted trouble. Whether it was stealing cars with Trey, fighting with Luke, burning down his grandfather's house or breaking Marissa's heart, Ryan was always in some kind of dilemma. That's why Seth wasn't _too _surprised when it turned out Theresa was pregnant. But no matter how many times he repeated it over and over in his head, he couldn't believe that Ryan was really leaving everything behind and going back to Chino.

He told himself that his "brother" was trying to do the right thing, and that it was admirable. He told himself not to be mad, because there wasn't really another option. Theresa was young, just as young as Ryan, and couldn't do it alone. He tried to stay calm, tried to not be so paranoid. But he couldn't help it.

Everything had happened so fast. He got his first best friend (who also doubled as a brother) and his first girlfriend. Not only did he get a girlfriend, but that girlfriend was _Summer_. The girl who he had never spoken to before Ryan came to town. Summer, the one who he named his boat after. The one he pined after for _so _long.

What if when Ryan left, and he officially had _no_ friends, she realized what a loser he was and she dumped him? He was so scared of losing her that he took off, and lost her anyway. He got on The Summer Breeze, and sailed away. He wound up in Portland, with Luke. Thank God they had cleared the air before Luke left Newport, or who knows where Seth would have wound up.

Maybe he would have gone back to Newport, and Summer would have forgiven him, since he was only gone a few days.

He tried not to think about 'what if...' because there was always an alternative like that one, an alternative that didn't suck so badly that he could simply _die_ from disappointment and sadness.

He could almost point out the irony in the whole situation. Almost. He wasn't The Ironist for nothing, after all. Perhaps when he was in better spirits, he and Oats could have a nice chuckle about it. But not right now. Their whole lives, Summer left Seth. Granted, she didn't really know she was doing it, but she did, just the same. She left him to go to Holly's Cotillion parties (the ones Seth was never invited to), or to party up in TJ with Marissa and the rest of them (once again, Seth attended comic book conventions instead because he wasn't invited). Seth was the one who sat at home and wished she was there with him.

Then, they switched roles. Summer was the one staying at home, wishing Seth was there with her. Seth was the one leaving her, for...what? Luke and his dad's house in Portland? Why the hell did he leave, anyway? Something about Ryan, he thought, but he wasn't too sure anymore. All he knew was that it was stupid and perhaps the biggest mistake of his life.

He wasn't too sure _what _he expected to find when he returned, but Summer dating Zach definitely wasn't it. He thought they were so in love. How could she just move on? Then again, how could he just sail away? The last thing they said to each other was some stupid joke about cocktail weenies, and something about how Summer couldn't replace Ryan.

Who was he kidding?

Summer could replace anyone she damned well wanted to. Hell, she could take over his mother's role if it meant having her in his life. Ew, he did not want to think of Summer as his mom. There are certain things he did with Summer that you absolutely do _not _do with your mother.

As badly as he wanted to be angry—angry at Summer for moving on, angry at Zach for taking his place, angry at Ryan for running back to Chino, angry at Marissa for befriending Oliver and driving Ryan to Theresa in the first place—he couldn't be. Well, maybe he could be mad at Marissa, but what would that accomplish?

Summer moved on, that's what he wanted. Didn't he want her to find happiness, even if it wasn't with him? And Zach, despite being a water polo player, he was actually a cool guy. He was even into comic books and stuff. And hey, what guy wouldn't jump at the change to date Summer? Even if she was vulnerable and still hung up on a certain Cohen, it was a pretty sweet deal. And then there was Ryan. Seth spent most of the summer being mad at him, until he realized it was completely pointless. Hating Ryan did as much good as hating Theresa, or the baby. He couldn't hate Ryan, he loved Ryan. Not in the same way he loved Summer, but still...he loved him like a brother and you can't hate your brother, can you? Well, maybe you can. But Seth didn't.

Sometimes, he wondered if the rest of them were as happy as he was. Sure, his life had taken a dramatic turn for the better when Ryan came to town, but what about the girls? Would Summer be happier if Ryan stayed in Chino, and she never met him? Did she _really _wish she had that plutonium fueled car for her to go back in time and never date him? What about Marissa? When Ryan came, a ton of bad things happened to her. Her parents got divorced, Luke cheated on her, she almost died in Tijuana, her mom married Seth's grandpa. If Ryan never came into her life, would those things still have happened? Were they inevitable or could certain things (like Luke cheating and her overdosing) have been avoided? Ignorance is bliss, right? Maybe. He would never know for sure.

He and Summer screwed around for a long time, being jealous and stubborn and refusing to be the first one to give in. They wanted each other _so _bad (or at least Seth wanted Summer really bad), but neither wanted to say die and forfeit any morsel of power they had left.

They wasted so much time being stupid, but that was okay. That was what they did.

In the end, they got together. They got past Anna and Zach and Alex and everyone else. They were happy, Ryan and Marissa were happy, everything was good. Well, not _everything _was good. His parents had a rocky marriage, his mother was in rehab, and his grandfather had just died. But other than that, things were pretty extraordinary. There were just like they had been a year ago. Then _it _happened.

Summer came to him, really shaken up and almost crying, saying that Trey attacked Marissa. She suggested that he tell Ryan. He did, and Ryan went berserk. That was what started the catastrophe. That was what ended things with Summer and almost ruined Marissa's whole life.

When he called her, telling her to get to Trey's immediately, he was desperate. All he could think about was how Ryan could get hurt, or kill Trey and have to leave Newport again. He was selfish. All he was concerned about was Ryan leaving him, and then he would be in the same boat as last year—no pun intended. He never expected to find Trey dead and Marissa holding a recently fired gun.

That wasn't even the worst of it. The worst part was what he did _after_. He was feeling so guilty, so responsible for Trey's death. He might as well have fired the gun himself, the way he was feeling. Summer, being the amazing girlfriend that she was, got him to see that it wasn't his fault. He _didn't _fire the gun, Marissa did. It was true, but maybe things would have been better if he still felt at fault. Seth blaming himself was much better than blaming Summer.

He didn't deserve her love.

He never did. Not for a second.

Despite everything, Seth had never been an insecure child. Sure, he had good reasons to be, but he never was. He knew he was a decent guy; it was just that the other kids didn't bother to acknowledge that about him. He was never insecure until things happened between him and Summer. Because after he got her, he had something to lose. And that was the scariest thing of all. He didn't want to lose Summer. But it was inevitable, wasn't it?

They were from two different worlds. She was popular, he wasn't. Not even a little bit. He had never had a friend, unless you count Captain Oats. She was always surrounded by friends, boyfriends, admirers. Seth was just another random name on her long list of admirers. He never dreamed that he would be bumped from the bottom of that list to the top of the 'boyfriend' list.

He couldn't believe that he had gone from loser to...slightly less of a loser. Sure, there would always be the odd person here and there that yelled 'queer' when he walked by, but it was dramatically less frequent now. Ever since word got around that he—that's right him, _Seth Cohen_—had been linked to Summer Roberts, he suddenly had a lot more friends. Everyone was nice to him, at least to his face. He knew that once he was gone, there were frantic whispers of 'how did that faggot get _her_?' and 'I bet you he's paying her to pretend they're dating', but he didn't care.

To hell with what the others thought, because they didn't matter to him. They had never mattered to him. The only person that has ever truly mattered to Seth Cohen was Summer Roberts.

When he was younger, he worshipped the ground she walked on. He still did, of course, but it was different now. Now, he had been deemed worthy to actually tread of that same piece of ground.

He wasn't an idiot, he wasn't blind. He noticed the stares, the impossibly puzzled looks on people's faces as he walked around Newport with Summer. Everyone knew that he didn't deserve her, that he didn't deserve to co-exist in her world. Everyone, except Summer. When he was around her, he felt important. He felt..._worthy._ He had never felt that before in his life.

He probably never would again. They were over, for real this time. After two years of being on and off and on again, they were off again. Permanently.

Summer made him worthy, and now she was gone. She didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He couldn't blame her, either.

Not after the things he had said to her, the way he blamed her for Trey's death. How could he do that? How could he say those horrible things? He didn't mean any of it, surely she knew that. She had to. He would just die if she didn't.

It wasn't her fault. Her telling him about Trey and Marissa was the right thing to do. She was just being a good friend.

If anything, _he _was the one who made the wrong decisions. When he told Ryan, what did he expect to happen? Obviously Ryan was going to run out of the pool house and over to Trey's place. Obviously he was going to kick his brother's ass, send him back to Chino, possibly with a trip to the hospital in between. Why did he stand there gaping like an idiot, instead of following him? Why didn't he call the police?

Because he was scared. If he called the police, Ryan would get in trouble, right? And with his already well-developed record, he would probably go back to juvie, wouldn't he? Why didn't he stop to think that Trey would get in trouble, too? After all, his record was even bigger than Ryan's. And he _did _try to...you know, rape Marissa. That made him mad. Marissa was like his _sister_. And you don't mess around with a guy's sister. Hell, if Cohen had been there instead of Marissa, maybe he would have done the same thing.

Speaking of Marissa, why did he call her anyway? Why didn't he just grab Summer, get in the car, and follow Ryan? Summer would be complaining about how slow he was going, so maybe he would have let her drive instead. They would have gotten there even faster, maybe even beaten Ryan there.

Why didn't he use CPR? He had been trained in first aid when he bought the Summer Breeze, so why didn't he try to keep Trey alive? By the time the paramedics got there, he would have still been breathing, his heart still beating. Seth could have prevented a death, and he didn't. He was scared. He was a coward.

If only he had done even one of those things, and they never would have had to point the blame.

He saw the look in her eyes when he said those things. He saw the tears spilling down her cheeks as they screamed at each other.

He couldn't get her out of his head after that night, after she told him to never talk to her again, that he was a fucking maniac. They didn't talk for about three weeks after that, but it felt like forever. He hated spending even a second without Summer. At Marissa's hearing, they ran into each other again. They went back to her house and fought for hours. That was when they made the pact, the one that he wanted to break the second it came into existence.

When he was working at the Bait Shop one day, she came in. They talked, and it was really awkward. They were so obviously dancing around the subject of "them". Finally, he decided to just say it. He was ready to give in and accept defeat, but she beat him to it. She said that she missed him. That meant so much to him that she would never understand. He told her he was thinking about her a lot. He wondered if she thought about him, too, but didn't dare ask. He was scared that the answer would be no.

He begged her to come back to him, begged her to break the pact and just be with him again. He said he loved her, and he needed her. She told him no, that they weren't meant to be. He said he wouldn't give up on her, that they belonged together.

He couldn't let her go.

Not again.

He couldn't live without her.

Could she live without him? He liked to think that she couldn't.

She was the only real thing that kept him in Newport. Ryan was pretty unpredictable, and Seth knew he wouldn't stick around forever. He didn't know if Summer would, but for now, he let himself believe that she would

He let himself believe that she loved him even one millionth as much as he loved her. That was his first mistake.

After work the next night, he went to her house. Dressed in all black (for stealth purposes), he climbed up her trellis and tapped on her window. Considering his _slight _apprehension about heights and his definite lack of coordination, it was rather surprising that he didn't plummet to his untimely death. When she looked up from her magazine (what else), her expression was hard to read. She looked astonished and expectant, pissed and slightly delighted, all at the same time.

Summer never was a simple girl. That was why he loved her. That was what set her apart from the rest.

She opened the window with—a grin? Could it be?

"Look, ass hat, I know that you've been pretty much isolated from society for whole life—with good reason, might I add—so you probably haven't been brought up to speed on proper visitation etiquette. Allow me to clue you in: sneaking over here at eleven o'clock at night, through my freaking _window_, is not acceptable." He rolled his eyes at her haughty remark. "What the hell are you doing here?"

His answer was simple, hopefully what she wanted to hear: he was fighting for her, like he knew she wanted him to. "It's only hard because you're making it hard," he insisted.

"Cohen, I can't do this," she whispered, though nobody was really eavesdropping to begin with. "You want me, and _I _get hurt. I want you, and I get hurt. Why can't it be you that hurts, just once? I'm sick of getting hurt. It seriously sucks, and I mean, like, even worse than on The Valley when April—"

"—I am hurt. You may not realize it but every time you get hurt...it kills me. It's like a part of me dies inside. I need you...you're like, my defibrillator paddles." She rolled her eyes and attempted to slam the window shut on his fingers. He used his reflexes and managed to keep the window open, at least for a little longer. "_Please_.You can't deny it, Sum. You love me."

"Yeah, I do. But I wish I didn't."

She told him she didn't want to. She basically told him that everything they had done, everything they shared, she didn't want a part in it anymore. She didn't want a part of _him _anymore. With a final boost of strength, he pushed the widow wide open, causing Summer to back up and allow him to climb fully inside.

"You don't mean that," he told her when he was in her room.

"Yeah, Cohen, I do. Why is that every time we decide it's over between us, it never really is? How long is this gonna go on for? Am I never going to get married, never have a family, because you won't let go of your ten-year-old fantasies?"

"It's more than that! We have a relationship. Summer, I love you. You don't know how much—"

"—Stop! Just please, stop saying that! I'm sick of all these fucked up games that we play. Our relationship is over, how many times do we need to settle this? I can't take what you do to me. I like you _so _much. Too much." He opened his mouth to protest, but she continued. "I'm sick of you being the centre of my life. It's over."

"I don't believe you," he stated. He raised his eyebrows, as if daring her to prove him wrong. He had only defied Summer a handful of times throughout their relationship, and it was a scary experience each and every time. This time was no exception. "You can say it 'til you're blue in the face. I still won't believe you."

She got a dangerous look in her eyes, right before she lunged at him. She pushed him against the wall and wrapped her hands around his neck. Seth didn't have time to react, didn't have time to stop her or push her off. He just stood there in shock, gasping as the air left his lungs.

He got a quick flashback of Ryan and Trey. While Marissa recounted her side of the story, she painted quite the picture of Trey, on top of Ryan, choking him to death. Thank God that Marissa killed him before he killed Ryan. He knew that it was selfish, and he didn't care.

She let go, and Seth gasped for air. It had only been about ten seconds, but ten seconds with an unexpected shortage of air can be pretty scary nonetheless. Especially when you're a dramatic being, like Seth.

"That's what it's like for me, Cohen! I can't think, I can't breathe, I can't do _anything. _I'm totally helpless," she said, on the brink of tears.

"You aren't making any sense," Seth protested, still breathing a little heavily. Summer sighed, and planted her hands on he hips.

"Remember that lame ass comic book you made me read last year? About the chick who got stuck on that weirdo planet and had to breathe in all that nasty air? After a while, she got used to the air. It got in her lungs, and when she got back to planet Earth, she couldn't handle the real air. She needed the other air, the one that was responsible for her being totally sick and diseased in the first place," she recounted.

"Yeah, I remember. So...?"

"So, you're _my_ disease, Cohen! I went to planet Dork and you, Mr. Super Geek, got in my heart. And yeah, it's gonna be hard, and it's gonna hurt like a bitch, but I need to get you out because you can't stay there. You were never a long-term virus, let's face it. So maybe I can do without you. At least for a little while. I mean, some people can hold their breath for a really, really long time. So that's what I'll do. I'll hold my breath until I can finally breathe in regular oxygen, the kind that isn't tainted by Cohen-ness. Maybe I can do it."

"And if you can't?"

"Then I guess I die from a Cohen shortage. Whatever. I don't think it'll come to that, though. I survived last summer, didn't I?"

He never thought of it that way. She did an excellent job of explaining it, though. Comic book analogy, very good, very Seth. Summer picked up a thing or two on planet Dork, it appeared.

What she failed to mention, most likely intentionally and not due to a memory lapse, was that the "chick" eventually adjusted. She got used to the Earth air again, and everything went back to normal. Just like she had never been to that "weirdo" planet in the first place.

Is that what would eventually happen with them?

Would Summer get him out of her system? Would she forget she ever visited planet Dork?

She had every reason in the world to do that, to leave him in the dust and never look back. Just like she did before. But he got her to look back once before, didn't he?

He couldn't blame her for hating him. After all, things were the way they were for a reason. That reason was Seth, being a stupid asshole. Seth, pulling some lame Coheny shit and screwing everything up. As usual.

So maybe Summer _did _hate him right now. And maybe Seth _did _pull the occasional stupid act. And maybe they were _technically _"broken up", for now.

But nothing lasts forever, right?

Besides, they had been in deeper shit before. Why, in last week's issue of Atomic County, The Ironist and Little Miss Vixen faced much tougher challenges than matters of the heart.

They would get through this. They had to.

She had looked back once before.

……………………………………………………………

**The comic book Summer talked about, as far as I know, is non-existent. If it does in fact exist, I didn't know, and would like to mention that I don't own it.**

**Review. Be sure to check out the third (and final) part to this story, called "Them."**


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